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Melbourne-based fitness group STRONG Pilates has enlisted English cricket legend Stuart Broad in a new push to bowl over the UK market where it plans to open 50 new studios over the next three years.
The UK expansion plans follow a successful launch in the US last year where it revealed that it has more than 100 studios confirmed in its first year of entry.
Broad’s appointment as brand ambassador for 2025 also aligns with a surge in male memberships at STRONG Pilates in recent years.
Founded in 2019 by former F45 franchisees Michael Ramsey and Mark Armstrong, STRONG Pilates is looking to gain a foothold in the UK after expanding into North America where it has operations in Canada as well as the US.
The fast-growing Pilates studio brand currently operates 82 studios in Australia and internationally, with hundreds in the pipeline across more than a dozen countries.
"The United Kingdom represents one of our most significant growth opportunities globally,” say Ramsey and Armstrong in a joint statement.
“We're intensifying our focus on this key market to provide the UK community with a world-first fitness format which, according to the latest ClassPass data, combines their most in-demand genres including Pilates, strength training, cycling and rowing.”
STRONG Pilates currently operates three sites in London and one in Dublin, with STRONG Wimbledon launched in early 2025, marking the first of 50 locations proposed under a new operational framework.
The new focus on the UK market comes as data from subscription platform ClassPass reveals that Pilates has overtaken strength training as the UK’s most popular fitness genre in 2024.
STRONG Pilates says the research shows that reservations through ClassPass across the UK have grown by 33 per cent in the last 12 months, with a 136 per cent increase in London alone in the two years to 2024.
Broad, a former English Test cricketer and former One Day and Twenty20 International captain, is among the many high-profile athletes who have been attracted by STRONG Pilates’ low impact, high intensity format which led the company to sign him up as brand ambassador.
“I wish STRONG Pilates was around when I was playing cricket as it truly provides both mind and body balance,” says Broad.
“You have the Pilates element which controls the movement and relaxation in breathing, combined with the aerobic, which pushes the body forward. STRONG has kept my mind and body in great nick, so it's exciting to share the burn with the UK fitness community."
STRONG Pilates credits its business with having “significantly shaken up the Pilates genre”, particularly among males.
"Our male members have more than doubled in the last three years, disrupting a predominantly female dominant genre,” say the founders.
“Stuart's appointment as ambassador reinforces our mission to showcase STRONG Pilates’ low impact and sustainable training benefits as a new standard for the future of fitness.”
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